The second half of our news quiz will appear Dec. 28. Answers to the following questions on page 11.
JANUARY
1) What low-value item did Bowen Island's Ian and Christine Radley scratch to pieces at their kitchen table on Christmas Day last year that eventually allowed them to pay off their mortgage? (Jan. 1)
2) What language could no longer be transmitted over phone lines following the planned cancellation of CRTC's Video Relay Service in January? (Jan. 4)
3) A representative for a group of 400 workers made an impassioned plea to City of North Vancouver council in January saying BC Hydro's new smart meters were threatening their livelihood. What was their profession? (Jan. 11)
4) West Vancouver MP John Weston boasts the largest of these in the province. His may change shape as a result of a federal law passed last year. What are they? (Jan. 15)
5) A private member's bill tabled by North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Jane Thornthwaite could result in the closure of mills across the province. It's not opposed by the forest industry, however. Why? (Jan. 18)
6) By January of this year, four people from North Vancouver were facing charges in connection with a major June 2011 event that was legal when it started, but illegal when it ended. What was the event? (Jan. 20)
7) What are under-19 rec hockey players no longer allowed to do in North Shore rinks thanks to a rule change that was voted in Jan. 22? (Jan. 25)
FEBRUARY
8) The District of West Vancouver voted to make two pricey purchases next year that will leave it in possession of 29 of the 32 of these items that exist in the world, bringing it near the end of a 36-year campaign. What are they? (Feb. 1)
9) What technological advancement has actually made it harder for the North Shore's emergency managers to disseminate information to residents in the event of a disaster? (Feb. 3)
10) According to an unpublished report by the District of North Vancouver, North Shore taxpayers could save $3.6 million annually if their governments would agree to combine what three things? It's been a hot topic for many years. (Feb. 10)
11) What huge structure wound up on its side on Jan. 13 that drew several North Vancouver oil skimming machines to Italy? (Feb. 15)
12) What ominously named ravine nearly proved to be the death of yet another pair of Mount Seymour snowboarders Feb. 15? (Feb. 17)
13) Starting this year, certain Capilano University graduates are eligible for a $100,000 prize called the Launchpad Fund. They have to use the money to make a particular kind of art, however. What? (Feb. 19)
14) What were Lower Mainland residents asked to clean earlier this year to help contain a salmonella outbreak among wild birds? (Feb. 22)
15) What surprisingly controversial form of bombing did City of North Vancouver council decide was too expensive to support at $7,500 (and then later decide wasn't too expensive to support)? (Feb. 26)
16) What fruit product has Park Royal said it wants to serve at its soon-to-be-built movie theatre? It may be regulated or forbidden by the province for legal reasons. (Feb. 26)
MARCH
17) Why were parents across the North Shore scrambling to find day care or rec programs for their kids March 6?
18) What municipal asset will likely be removed to make way for a multi-storey development in Ambleside, a subject of contentious debate this year? Community members stay there overnight, but not always willingly. (March 9)
19) Why was ICBC warning drivers that the morning commute on Monday, March 12 would be an unusually dangerous one? It wasn't weather related, and nothing had changed about the roads or who was on them. (March 11)
20) Thieves stole several metal objects from the 100-block of Chesterfield Avenue early this year that were a total of 15 kilometres long. What were they? (March 16)
21) What popular and stationary electrical devices are people under 18 no longer allowed to use in B.C. after the introduction of a strict new provincial law in March? (March 21)
APRIL
22) Under B.C's Bill 22, what can a teacher be fined $475 daily for doing? (April 15)
23) According to City of North Vancouver City Coun. Craig Keating, what kind of people have an advantage on the municipality's traditional election ballots? (April 20)
24) What ceremonial animal product did a Surrey court tell a North Vancouver carver in April he did not a have a constitutional right to sell from his North Vancouver workshop? (April 22)
25) What plant did the City of North Vancouver declare it wanted to see the province regulate in April? (April 27)
MAY
26) What disruptive three-day event led to an unexpected $2million windfall for the North Shore's school districts this past spring? (May 2)
27) What common crime, which tends to spike around Christmas and New Year's Eve, can be fought more effectively with steep fines than with criminal prosecution, according to many police? (May 6)
28) What injustice, perpetrated in the name of protecting freedom, did the provincial government apologize for in May, 70 years after B.C. played a key role in the misdeed? (May 9)
29) What did a Caulfeild man lock to a pole with a chain, a bike lock and a welded plate this past spring in an effort to prevent it from being replaced with an updated, wireless model? He was aiming to protect his health and privacy. (May 16)
30) Jack the calf was found in Horseshoe Bay September 2011. After several months of medical attention, he has now found a permanent home without fields or barns. Where is it? (May 18)
31) Animal activists spray-painted cars red outside a North Vancouver business in May to protest its activities. What weasel relative did they dedicate the act of vandalism to? (May 25)
32) What invisible, odourless, weightless component of sewage is being recovered and reused at a new condo development near North Vancouver's Mosquito Creek - reportedly a first in North America? It's something we all use daily. (May 25)
JUNE
33) Fully a quarter of West Vancouver residents fall into a single demographic group nowadays, according to figures released this year by Statistics Canada. This group has grown by 14 per cent between 2006 and 2011. It's a category no one is born into. Who are they? (June 1)
34) Hundreds of passengers were forced off a ferry in Nanaimo and delayed by three and a half hours June 2, even though there had been no mishap, no mechanical problem, nothing dangerous on board and nothing physically keeping the boat at the dock. What had happened? (June 6)
35) What part of the North Vancouver transit network could be made significantly less "scary" with the addition of a coffee kiosk, according to TransLink? (June 17)
36) A resident of St. Andrew's Road came out of her house June 11 to find her car broken into, at least two items gone and a visible print on the back door. The police did not treat the incident as a crime, however. Why not? (June 17)
37) In June, the City of North Vancouver took legal aim at what kind of soup? (June 24)
38) A North Shore man was handed a suspended sentence June 25 for offering to pay a man at Lions Gate Hospital $10,000 to do him a favour. The service would not have given him anything tangible, and under normal circumstances would be free and legal. What was it? (June 27).
ANSWERS
1) A scratch-and-win lottery ticket
2) Sign language
3) Meter reader
4) Federal ridings
5) It targeted puppy mills.
6) The Stanley Cup riot
7) Bodycheck
8) Ambleside waterfront lots
9) The rise of cellphones (and the associated death of listed land
lines) 10) Fire departments
11) A cruise ship
12) Suicide Gully
13) A movie
14) Their bird feeders
15) Yarnbombing
16) Wine
17) B.C.'s teachers walked off the job
18) The police station
19) The clocks had jumped forward the day before
20) Copper wire
21) Tanning beds
22) Striking 23) Those with names near the beginning of the alphabet 24) Eagle parts 25) Cannabis 26) The teachers' strike 27) Drunk driving 28) The wartime internment of Japanese Canadians 29) His electrical meter 30) The Vancouver Aquarium. Jack is a porpoise.
31) Mink. The target was a furrier.
32) Heat
33) Seniors
34) Someone had called in a (false) bomb threat
35) The Phibbs Exchange
36) The suspect was a bear (with a nose for unattended bananas, it turned out).
37) Shark fin 38) To be allowed to leave. The target of the unsuccessful bribe attempt was a police officer .
PHOTO ANSWERS
Page 3) Director James Cameron made a solo-dive to the bottom of Marianas Trench.
Page 9) Because the new rules forbid roosters.
